Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 Releasing in 2018?

By Jasmine Henry 08 January 2018

Two of the biggest Nintendo Switch announcements out of 2017 were that Bayonetta 3is in development as a Switch exclusive and that Metroid Prime 4 is in the works, too. But while fans weren’t expecting to get their hands on these games for a while, a post by a Nintendo partner suggests that they will be releasing a lot sooner than people initially thought.

Earlier today, Nintendo’s Norweigan website published a round-up of the company’s accomplishments throughout the year, also mentioning its plans for the future. According to a translated version of the text (via Google Translate), the post stated that “we are all looking forward to 2018, which will include games like Bayonetta 3 [and] Metroid Prime 4.”

After fans caught wind of the post and the accidental release date reveal, the text was changed. It now says “The year 2017 has definitely been Nintendo’s year and we are looking forward to new and exciting titles in 2018!” (via Google Translate) and makes no mention of either Bayonetta 3 or Metroid Prime 4. It is unusual that the mention of the games were removed altogether instead of just being edited to clarify the error.

It’s important to note that Nintendo’s Norweigan website is not maintained by an official Nintendo Norway branch (i.e the Norweigan equivalent of Nintendo of America). The website is maintained by Bergsala, which is an official Nintendo distributor for Scandinavian countries. While Bergsala may well have gotten the release date information directly from Nintendo, it should be taken with a grain of salt, as Nintendo itself didn’t publish it.

It’s also possible that Google Translate may have interpreted the text incorrectly. Replying to Wario64’s tweet, one person pointed out that the Swedish translation of the original text says that ”we already know that Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4 and a new Pokémon game are under development for the Switch.” It doesn’t say that these Nintendo Switch games are being released in 2018.

The Swedish version of roughly the same text says ”we already know that Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4 and a new Pokémon game are under development for the Switch”. pic.twitter.com/Q8jM2VgEqU

— Niklas Sintorn (@niklassintorn) January 5, 2018

Moreover, Bergsala may have just gotten things wrong. After all, Nintendo itself has said that Metroid Prime 4‘s release could still be a long way off, making a 2018 release unlikely.

Fans are now champing at the bit for confirmation of the launch plans. Although this Nintendo Norway development hasn’t cleared things up, hopefully more details will be available soon. A Nintendo Direct event is rumored to be taking place on January 11, so watch this space for any major announcements.

Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 are currently in development for the Nintendo Switch, but have no official release dates.